Tag Archives: Delver of Secrets

Hi all. My name is Greg Komar, I’m a student at SUNY Binghamton and I’ve become quite fond of hanging out and slinging cards at Jupiter Games. Up until Saturday, I’d never really done well at Jupiter NELC Qualifier event. Usually, I’d do okay, losing contention for top sixteen around round five or six. Not what you might consider to be “good,” but I could have been doing a lot worse, too. Saturday didn’t really feel any different. I was going on four hours of sleep, I showed up with my friends, Chris Scagnelli and Josh Mass, and figured I’d give my deck a try and at the least have a good time battling. I’d been testing my deck pretty frequently for weeks and I liked the U/R Delver deck a bunch. It’s a mix of the RUG Stifle/Delver decks that have been doing very, very well and the Doug McKay deck that Doug Top 8ed with at last month’s NELCQ. Continue reading NELC Qualifier Report- Greg Komar (Top 4)→

In recent weeks decks such as RUG and BUG/Team America have been very successful, but why? They play efficient cards with crucial effects on the early turns of the game. These decks create what we call “tempo”.

tem·po [tem-poh]

noun, plural -pos, -pi [-pee]

1.

Music. relative rapidity or rate of movement, usually indicated by such terms as adagio, allegro, etc., or by reference to the metronome.

2.

characteristic rate, rhythm, or pattern of work or activity: the tempo of city life.

3.

Chess. the gaining or losing of time and effectiveness relative to one’s continued mobility or developing position, especially with respect to the number of moves required to gain an objective: Black gained a tempo.

Out of these three definitions, the third one is definitely the best option related to Magic. Chess and Magic: The Gathering are both games after all. Tempo is important because it sets the tone for the entire game until something else causes a halt or change in tempo. Continue reading Cook’s Kitchen- Changing Tempo→